[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein (1972)

One of director Jess Franco's less salacious affairs in which much of the gratuitous sex makes way for his fondness for classic horror...

...Well classic horror if you think Frankenstein's monster is simply a dude painted silver.

Not to knock the film though as it is really quite good with some fabulous ideas and creations. Such as Anne Libert's blind bird vampire woman who is totally naked aside from a cape and some green feathers, she does the bidding of Howard Vernon's sorcerer.

There's also a delightful dungeon where rituals play out watched from behind bars by cloaked skeletal figures - a beautiful creepy Gothic touch. There's also the nude couple tied back to back and whipped by the monster over a spiked floor - classic stuff. In fact so classic Franco practically redid the scene for Countess Perverse a couple of years later.

Although the film isn't particularly coherent it really doesn't matter as it plays out like a lurid, vividly coloured fever dream in an almost seventies comic book style and is wonderfully watchable.

This review was written under the heady influence of Ghost's Infestissumam album.